Amending budget 5/2021: humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey

The European Parliament adopted by 588 votes to 87, with 14 abstentions, a resolution on the Council position on draft amending budget No 5/2021 of the European Union for the financial year 2021 - Humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey.

Parliament approved the Council's position on draft amending budget No 5/2021, which aims to provide continued support to the most vulnerable of the refugees in Turkey as a consequence of the Syria crisis, representing the first component of the Commission’s proposals for the continuation of financing for Syrian refugees and host communities in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and other parts of the region.

EUR 325 million are needed to extend the coverage of the Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) flagship programme, which provides monthly cash transfers to over 1.8 million refugees, from March 2022 until the beginning of 2023.

The Commission proposed to cover this amount by using the remaining margin under the Heading 6 in 2021, and the balance to be funded from the Humanitarian Aid envelope in 2021 and 2022.

Concerned that support for refugees in Turkey was not factored in the negotiations of the current MFF nor the NDICI-Global Europe instrument, Parliament stressed that under current circumstances the Union budget cannot be the sole source of funding for the continued support to refugees.

Members called for a comprehensive agreement covering EU funding for continued support to refugees in Turkey and the region in 2021 and subsequent years to be concluded in the context of the conciliation on the EU's general budget for the year 2022.